marriage for none… civil unions for all

Throughout the UU Blogosphere and on my own blog peeps list, I have seen this video popping up. No doubt why. Keith Olbermann’s commentary resonates loudly with liberal thinking people.

But despite his slant, Keith, asks a question which I think should send a red flag up for conservatives.
You see, I’m a bit of a conservative, too. I am a bit of a UU oddity in my political stance. I am a card carrying member of the Libertarian party. Some people call it, the Real Republican party or the Republican Party of Teddy Roosevelt. I’m not a hard core Libertarian, but I agree with a little more of its platform than the others.

And so I’ve thought about this same sex marriage thing off and on for a few months… letting it kind of stew in mind a little and I came to the same conclusion this guy over at The Little Cog did. There should be no marriage licenses for anyone… civil unions for all. I don’t really get too riled up about many causes except the separation of church and state and the whole marriage equality thing i think can be argued to fall in that realm.

I mean marriage between two people is a religious construct. It is not a governmental institution. Why does the government need to recognize or sanctify (via a marriage license) a religious ceremony.

And so I’m asking you, the rare, politically conservative reader of my blog, does California’s Prop 8 and Keith’s commentary below send a red flag to your political stance. If not… why? Because if you truly believe in smaller government, if you truly believe the government should leave you alone, how can you possibly justify the government telling someone it is or isn’t ok to marry

I don’t understand. Please tell me how you, as a political conservative, think it’s ok for the government to tell you whether it’s ok or not to do something as important as be with the one you believe you should be with.

Our Marriage Equality frame is bizarre. As long as Government is in the business of licensing Marriage, than Government is in the business of discriminating who marries by definition… discrimination is what licensing means.

Marriage Licenses are fairly recent developments and they may not be servering much of a purpose other than greating a framework for handing out benefits.

We’d be better off getting the Gov out of the licensing business and dispensing benefits under different criteria than marriage.

You’re right, the fact that the government got into the “marriage” business in the first place. “Holy matrimony” is a religious construct, and therefore the state should not be issuing licenses for it.

But, can you imagine the outcry if they “took away marriage” and issued all people a civil union certificate instead? Oh lordy lordy lordy. You’ve seen how cranky some of these folks have gotten at being told “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Chirstmas”, Not pretty, not pretty at all.

from The Age of Reason

I believe in one God and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavouring to make our fellow-creatures happy. ~ Thomas Paine, 1794